Chart of the Week: Dogecoin, Bitcoin, and the Rise of Cryptocurrency

Chart of the Week: Dogecoin, Bitcoin, and the Rise of Cryptocurrency2018-01-112018-01-19https://www.vertoanalytics.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/verto_logo_rgb.pngVerto Analyticshttps://www.vertoanalytics.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/verto-analytics-chart-week-cryptocurrency-feature-image.png200px200px

Note: this post has been updated to clarify that user numbers for Coinbase only account for users of the Coinbase app.

Cryptocurrency has been making headlines over the past few months, aided by Bitcoin’s astronomical rise: the digital currency increased its value by nearly 2,000% in just the past year. And this week alone, Kodak – whose stock have been tanking for the past four years – saw its shares jump 44% after announcing a new “photo-centric cryptocurrency,” while the meme-powered Dogecoin hit a $2 billion market cap (an all-time high) over the weekend. But with all the press hype, are an increasing number of consumers investing in cryptocurrency, or is the fervor confined to just a few investors, buyers, and industry pundits?

How fast is Coinbase growing?

Coinbase is one of the most popular digital currency exchanges in the U.S. – the company recently reported that it had more global users than stalwart Charles Schwab could claim in active brokerage accounts. According to Verto Watch data, the Coinbase app has seen a huge spike in its monthly user numbers (among U.S. adults, ages 18 and above) over the past year, with an especially dramatic rise in the last quarter of 2017. Verto data shows that Coinbase’s app grew from a monthly unique user base of just 407,000 in January 2017 to a monthly unique user base of 4.3 million by December 2017 – more than a tenfold increase. And the vast majority of this growth has occurred over the past three months: as cryptocurrencies heated up over the past few months, so have Coinbase app user numbers: in September 2017, the company claimed just under 940,000 monthly unique users, before shooting to over 4.3 million by December 2017, the same month that Bitcoin hit a new record high of almost $18,000.

Connie is the global content marketing director at Verto Analytics. Prior to Verto, Connie held positions at ABB and Gigaom, and worked with brands like AOL and Zendesk. When she's not tracking down (and telling) interesting stories behind Verto's data and people, she's busy cycling around Berlin in pursuit of strong coffee and interesting music.